


Afraid of the Dark

by Teemfr3_Cherryscone



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels are Dicks (Supernatural), Anger, Boys Kissing, Closets, Dark, Depressing, Domestic Disputes, Fear, Fluff and Angst, Ghosts, Guilt, Hurt Castiel (Supernatural), Kidnapping, Kissing, M/M, Making Out, Old Married Couple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:21:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22010212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teemfr3_Cherryscone/pseuds/Teemfr3_Cherryscone
Summary: Dean and Sam Winchester team up with angel Castiel to investigate an abandoned building, when teens from the area start to disappear and rumors of ghosts reach the hunters, via  reliable source. They meet in front of an old abandoned theater...It is assumed that Castiel and Dean have known each other for a considerable length of time. Would take place after the point where the Winchesters move into the bunker.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	Afraid of the Dark

The Winchesters pull up in the Impala, just outside of an abandoned theater, which is now run-down and barely standing up in its decrepit state. Both Dean and Sam get out of the car and look up at the marquis, skeptically. Several letters are randomly stuck in a corner making up a mesh of black curves and criss-crosses, but just off-center and spelled out by the locals as a lame prank for the non-existent business owners read the “Movie Title” 'Are You Afraid of the Dark' without the question mark, at the end. Dean makes a face. "Didn’t know there was a movie that actually made it to the theater. I thought they just did a TV special thing…I remember seeing a commercial for it. You would’ve loved it, Sammy. Clowns and everything!"

"I don’t think they ever released a movie or that it played here, Dean. Probably some kids just joking around. Would’ve been smarter if they had thought to put up a warning that the place is haunted." Sam shuts the car door and makes his way back towards the trunk. "And that the only way out is in a body bag, if you’re dumb enough to go inside…" Dean takes a look around the area. Man, what a miserable town to live in. This place is overdue for a major face lift. Sam fishes around for the rock salt. "Let’s be hopeful. No one’s reported any bodies turning up."

"Not yet, you mean." Dean counters.

Sam and Dean had been bombarded with messages that morning from other hunters and friends who were “in-the-know” that several disappearances had taken place within the past few months, since the closing of a local theater building, which had struggled to bring in an audience. The original owners, Dale and Margaret Blanche, had just packed up and left, not leaving a note for anyone interested in taking up the building and re-vamping the theater for themselves. No one had even bothered to schedule a demolition of the premises, to open up a new mall or grocery store or apartment complex. It was left to collect dust and debris and according to recent rumors, kids from the local high-school and community college.

Amy, a friend of the Winchesters from a previous case, had claimed she was out for a run when she saw a few kids sneaking in, one of them wearing his boyfriend’s letter-head jacket. She wasn’t in the mood to go in after them and just continued on home, forgetting about them until noticing an article with their pictures highlighted. It read with the heading LOST in giant letters heading the article, and said they hadn’t shown up to school for several days, and that two of them were honor students and very reliable and responsible people. Amy had remembered that it was so cold outside when she was by the theater that she could see her own breath. Combined with so many cases being reported of missing people, all teenagers or young adults, Amy got a gut feeling and called Dean just as Sam was looking up the same story on his laptop.

Now, Dean and Sam open up the trunk of the impala and start to fill their guns with rock salt. Sam picks up a third. The most popular theory among the remaining hunters in the district, was that anyone who entered the building died and that their spirits remained to haunt the building, in the form of ghosts. Sam holds up a spare rifle and shows it to Dean. "Do you think Cas will need one?" Sam asks the question carefully, not knowing where Dean sits on the matter of his once again ex-best friend. Dean pretends to be looking for something in the trunk, acting as if he couldn't care less about Sam's question. "I think he keeps one in the truck. Load that one anyway, just in case." Castiel arrives right at that moment, pulling up next to the impala. He gets out of the driver’s side and moves towards the Winchesters, wielding his own weapon, as Dean predicted. Almost immediately, Dean is short with Castiel. "Thanks for coming. Usually, you’re too busy to even answer your phone." Castiel starts to protest but Dean slams the trunk down, nearly knocking Sam in the head, and cutting Castiel off. Sam backs out of the way, just in time. "Hey!! Careful!" Then shaking his head, "Please don’t tell me you two are still…." Tartly, "Have either of you been inside of the building, yet?" Castiel sounds defeated and uncaring. He looks at Sam, a bit desperately. Sam just sighs, still upset from the night Castiel left the bunker. He had been in his room trying to read when he heard Dean yelling from the kitchen..

******

"Never mind about me, it’s YOU who we should be worrying about right now. Why can’t you ever look after yourself, for once!?!?" For all of his concern, Sam didn’t like the way Dean attempted to get through to Cas about his grace failing him, again. They had come back from a hunt that morning, Dean bleeding and battered, and Dean refused Castiel’s help. He argued that his injuries were minor, and would ignore Cas or walk away to avoid Castiel having to use his powers in order to heal him. Both he and Sam were afraid that if Castiel used them unnecessarily, that it would only be a matter of time before he lay dying before them both. They had reason to believe his grace was fading faster than Castiel led on and their concern was well-founded. But finally, Castiel had had enough. Sam was walking down the hall with an armful of books, when Cas stormed past him and went up to Dean’s bedroom door. Sam didn’t have time to react when Castiel crashed into Dean’s room and crawled on top of him, on his bed. Sam ran to the door to see Dean struggling (pathetically) while Castiel put a hand to Dean’s forehead. With visible effort and strain, Castiel eyes began to glow, and light seemed to fill the room, as Castiel succeeded in healing Dean of his injuries…before passing out on top of him. When Castiel finally woke up, Dean let out a huge sigh of relief. He asked Castiel if he was alright…and then gave him the silent treatment for a week, before finally confronting him in the kitchen.

"It’s like you don’t even care if you die right in front of me. What were you thinking?!?! What kind of a person could ever do that to someone he cared about?! How would you feel if I cut myself up and bled to death, in order to save you?! Would you want that for me?!" Dean had been on the verge of tears. Sam could hear his voice getting hoarse..

Castiel tries to reason with Dean, but makes a weak attempt. "Dean, please….I didn’t have a choice…"

"One day you’re gonna have to make a choice, and it’s gonna be the right one or we're finished!!! You should have let me die! In fact…you know what….I’m finally done! You don’t wanna give a damn about yourself, then that means I don’t have to either." Sam could imagine Dean storming out of the kitchen, and Castiel following him helplessly, trying desperately to plead his own case.

"I’m sorry. I wish…Dean, I couldn’t stand to see you hurt like that and not be able to do anything. I wouldn’t ever …It…I’m not…I…" it was around this point that Sam could tell the conversation had stopped just outside of his bedroom door. He remembers getting a minor headache around the time. Dean had whipped around at Castiel to get one last jab in.

"Whatever, just get out. All the time I’ve wasted, wondering if you’re gonna get yourself killed…There’s only so much I can take. You feel like helping out with a case or two, I’ll give you a call, but until then…Good luck to you!" The next morning Sam had gone into Castiel’s room hoping to mediate the situation, but by that time, Castiel was gone.

******

Now, Sam could recognize the same tension between his brother and his friend as they faced each other for the first time in several weeks. Castiel appeared as if he were struggling to just stay standing. Dean can’t help but show concern on his face, looking Cas up and down. Sam clears his throat, checking in on Cas, tentatively. "Cas, are you sure you’re up to this? Are you, I mean…are you getting any better?" Dean presses his lips together, not trusting himself to add anything else, but anxious to hear the answer to Sam's question. Castiel still avoids Dean’s gaze and tries to hide the fact that he’s swaying slightly. He lies to the Winchesters....of course. "I’m fine. What do you need me to do?" Sam and Dean look at each other, and then they all look at the theater together. Castiel takes a step forward. He furrows his brows and tilts his head slightly.

"Sam, I know you told me you believed the building to be deserted. But, I sense that there are people in there.." Sam and Dean look at each other, confused.

"What do you mean?" All of their last fight forgotten, Dean now feels hopeful. The missing teens had never been declared dead. They could still be alive…Castiel shakes his head.

"I’m not sure, but…. I sense we’re not the only living ones in the vicinity. That we’re not alone.." Without saying anything else, Castiel heads towards the theater. Sam and Dean follow after him and they all enter the building together. Once inside the lobby, the three are enveloped in darkness, save for a glimmer of light coming from the front doors. The three decide to split up and each take a different area of the theater to explore.

*****

Sam finds himself in the basement. He can hear something leaking nearby and hopes to himself that it’s only water. With the little light from his flash light, Sam feels along the walls as he stumbles down the basement stairs. There are extra theater seats and old show posters underneath an old tarp. He thinks he’s alone when he hears someone sneeze behind him. Sam jumps and turns around to see eight different sets of eyes staring back at him. The missing teens are wearing the outfits they disappeared in, now dirty and torn, and with dirt and sweat covering their faces. Some hide behind their friends, not knowing who Sam is. Though pale and hollow-eyed Sam breathes a sigh of relief…They’re alive!

Sam holds out a hand, partly to steady himself, partly to signal to everyone that he's on their side. "Hey! It’s okay, I’m here to help..." Some of the kids start to relax, and then one of them starts to scream. Sam turns around to see an old man with a gun aimed at him. The girl who screamed starts crying and before Sam can even blink, a woman appears from behind the group of kids and grabs the girl by the hair, dragging her back against her with one hand, a butcher knife in the other….

*****

Castiel made his way down the aisle of the theater and to the stage. He had to use a flashlight now, since he had weakened considerably over the past several months. Sam and Dean had expressed their concern for his failing grace on many occasions, and Castiel had always lied by saying he was ignorant of the cause. The truth was that an angel’s grace could be manipulated in its strength from Heaven’s Headquarters.

Awhile ago, a group of angels had threatened Castiel, ordering him to stop aiding the Winchesters and to ignore their calls for help. When Castiel refused, they had warned Castiel that his life was on the line and he would eventually drain of his grace and then finally die, if he didn’t change his ways. Castiel had of course ignored the threats, continuing to work and then live with the Winchesters at the bunker, before Dean ordered him to leave…

As Castiel crawls up onto the stage he struggles to make out the wings and the backdrop depicting a forest scene for whatever production last closed at the theater. There is a star drop, as well. Castiel doesn’t notice anything unusual. Just a lot of left over props and lights piled up back stage and old programs, covered in dust. He moves backstage and sees a door that must lead to the dressing rooms. Upon opening it, he finds himself in a darkened hallway. After walking down it for a few minutes Castiel stops.

'What was that noise?' His flashlight had stopped working, so he left it back on the stage. He can’t see anything now, but he knows he heard someone curse to his left. Suddenly, there is a sharp noise, like a door is slamming shut. Whatever made the sound, it was close. Without seeing it, Castiel turns and reaches out until he makes contact with a door handle. Not thinking of the consequences, Castiel turns the handle and enters into the room. A pair of hands lock onto his arms and pulls him inside the room, slamming him against the wall. Castiel drops his gun…

******

Dean directs his flash light back and forth, unimpressed with the lack of bodies, the lack of clues, the lack of anything in this nothing hallway. Just a lot of dust and dark. There are several closed doors, but all of them have been locked up to now. Dean trudges on to the end of the hallway, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to try the last door, and is surprised when it actually opens for him. 'Yeah right', he thinks. Dean walks inside, out of habit, not really expecting anything interesting….

"What the hell?" The closet is full of weapons. Dean at first thinks that they are props used for the theater, but then gets closer and realizes it’s all real. Guns, machetes, pitch forks, a hatchet, and even rat poison! He sets down his own gun full of rock salt and reaches towards one of the machetes when his light flickers out. Dean curses and backs into the door, slamming it shut and dropping his flashlight. He fumbles around on the ground looking for it.. "I can’t see anything, it’s so damn dark!"

All of a sudden, the door opens. Someone is directly behind Dean, standing above him. Dean reacts quickly, springing to his feet and turning to grab the dark figure by his arms, pulling him into the closet and slamming him against the wall. Dean can hear his attacker's heart thumping in his chest and he presses himself up against his assailant, who struggles for a moment before stilling, his breath catching in his throat.

Then Dean realizes that he’s not threatened by his attacker, that he doesn’t feel as if he’s in danger. The body in front of him is familiar, and…Dean leans his head forward against the other’s and the person pressed against the wall submits, pushing back slightly. Dean’s breathing becomes heavy as his grip tightens on Castiel who tilts his head back, so that Dean can feel the stubble on his chin brush against his lips. Dean is afraid to say anything. He doesn’t know what he’s thinking, right now. He lowers his mouth onto Castiel’s neck and traces kisses along it. When Castiel lets out a soft cry, Dean takes his face in his hands and kisses him roughly on the mouth. Castiel brings his hands up to Dean’s face and presses his body against him, as the lights to the closet and the hallway turn on. Neither hear Sam calling out to them from the hallway, or notice the sudden burst of light that's enveloped them both…Their eyes are closed, and their lips are desperate for each other… Sam finds them in a closet full of weapons, in each other’s arms, crumpled in a heap on floor. Dean covering Castiel with kisses as Cas mewls, weakly “Dean...mmmm…"

*****

The old theater owners, Dale and Margaret Blanche, sit cuffed in the back seat of a police car. Once Old Lady Blanche had attempted to silence the crying girl, Dale had lowered his gun, letting his guard down and thinking they were in control. Sam kicked upwards into Dale’s nuts and retrieved his gun when he dropped it, howling in pain. Margaret had been distracted and another of the teen captives dived at her ankle, biting as hard as he could. Margaret screamed and let the girl and the butcher knife go.

  
The other kids dove into action and helped Sam to overcome and defeat the couple of criminals, weak as they were from being denied adequate food and sleeping quarters. By Sam’s orders, they helped find rope. Some helped in tying their captors up and dragging them both upstairs. Sam gave one of the hostages his cell phone to call the police, while he looked for a way to turn on the lights. Apparently, there was nothing wrong with the lights or the electricity, though they had been turned off since the theater’s closing. When Sam tried turning them all on, he had little to no problem. Apparently, the town had cared so little about the theater at that point, that no one had bothered to cut off electricity through to the building. The Blanches had just not wanted to let on that anyone was living there, and kept them off at all times.

When the theater closed, all had assumed that the couple had left the place for dead, but in fact they had both stayed hidden in the old theater, and lived off of killing cats, rats and all of the above, determined to stay. A nearby pond, spare candles, and other necessities had done the couple fine for resources…until local kids had spread a rumor that the building was haunted and had set off in pairs and groups to explore the place.

Finally, the couple decided to get back at everyone for ignoring their establishment in the first place, by kidnapping and torturing anyone who trespassed, taking away the town’s children in revenge for running their business to the ground. They had stored a closet full of weapons to use as a means to torture their victims and kept rat poison to permanently silence the ones who made too much of a racket. Now, the surviving kids were split up among sobbing parents, paramedics and police officers, in front of the theater. One boy pulled Sam aside to thank him, for reminding them all of how capable they had always been in getting themselves out of the Blanche's grasp, and waking them from their stupor. He said he felt it had been in him to stand up for himself all the while, he just needed to see that if could be done and Sam making the first move is what made it happen.

******

Dean and Castiel sat on a nearby bench, watching the rescue take place. They hadn’t said a word (and neither had Sam, thankfully) about what had happened back in the closet, all night, though many hours had passed since then. Dean’s face is an unfeeling mask, and Cas is almost afraid to breath. Nothing had to be said to determine Castiel was going back to the bunker that night. Dean would ask Sam to drive Castiel’s truck while Cas rode shot gun to Dean in the impala. Dean had wondered what he’d do when he saw Cas again, after their fight. He’d wondered if Castiel could forgive him for being such an asshole to him when they finally confronted each other in the kitchen. He worried that Castiel was much weaker than he’d let on earlier, and thought he knew for certain that things weren’t getting any better for the angel. And now…everything was so much worse than Dean could have ever imagined. The darkness had acted as a veil, had tricked Dean into thinking they were safe, that they were completely alone, and maybe they could both feel happiness, pleasure, for just a moment..but something told him that somehow they had failed each other, back in that closet. To have opened his eyes and seen Castiel, trembling underneath him, surrounded by deadly weapons and blinding, accusing light, to see tears well in Castiel’s eyes… If the lights had stayed off until after they’d let go of each other, Dean wouldn’t have had to see it end…It wasn’t meant to last longer than a moment, but somehow…

"Are you afraid of the Dark.." Castiel's voice sounds hollow. Dean shakes his head from his thoughts, and looks at Cas, worried. Castiel is looking up at the theater marquis, not really caring about it, but feeling one of them needed to say something to break the ice. Dean has never seen Castiel look so weak as he did at this moment. He fixes the expression on his face, trying to converse nonchalantly.

"You know, there’s a movie I’ve been trying to get Sammy to watch with me. One of those new revivals. This one, I think, it’s from an old Nickelodeon program or whatever. Funny, right?" Castiel nods. It hurts Dean to look at Cas when he’s this weak, this afraid. Dean thinks 'He’s in so much pain. What can I do to take it away? How can I save him?'

A tear escapes from Castiel’s eye and Dean’s heart breaks in two. Dean knew that Castiel was convinced that what had happened had been wrong, wicked and sinful. That pleasure in each other's touch was bad, and that only evil could come from it. And Dean knew Castiel would never let him touch him like that, ever again. Dean wants nothing more than to take Castiel into his arms, and to hold him underneath the stars, to just be close to him in the dark..but instead he puts both hands in his pockets and waits for the police to leave, waits for Sam to signal that they should be heading home. Castiel leans into the back of the bench and turns his head away from Dean, knowing he can’t hold back his tears any longer.

"Dean..forgive me. It was my fault...I shouldn't have...it's not what I was put on this earth for. I took advantage of you and..." He shuts his eyes, ashamed. "Dean, I couldn’t help myself, I couldn’t…stop….I…." Biting his lip, Castiel can’t continue.  
Dean knows that if he doesn’t get up and walk away now, that his lips would find their way to Castiel’s again. He knew that the next time he put his hands on Castiel that he would never let go. He tries to keep his voice even, when he speaks.

"I’ll wait in the car. When you’re ready, join me, and we’ll head on home. Sam is going to drive the truck." Then after a moment.. "Don’t think that I’m ever letting you go after tonight. And don’t you dare think about using your powers again, until Sam and I can figure out what’s wrong. I won’t hear of it. I’ll trap you in a ring of holy oil before I let you go and get yourself killed. Hate me for the rest of my life. I don’t care. And don’t take too long, I’m beat…" Dean ignores the small cry coming from Castiel and stands up, hesitating for a moment, before heading determinedly back towards the impala. Castiel covers his face with his hands, the darkness enveloping him like a never-ending nightmare…

The End

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
